ROAD FC 44: Aorigele wins, $1 Million Tournament semifinals set

South Korean promotion ROAD FC returned to China Saturday for ROAD FC 44, where openweight giant Aorigele made fast work PRIDE legend Fujita Kazuyuki with a first round knockout.

Aorigele put in a dominating performance against Kazuyuki, getting a brutal TKO which was very emotional for the Kungfu Panda.

Fujita knew he was in hostile territory and came out aggressively, willing to stand and bang, but Aorigele’s size and youth proved to be far too overwhelming. A tearful thank you from Aorigele to the Pride legend showed his humble side.

Aorigele gets an emotional win over Fujita Kazuyuki.

In the quarterfinals for the ROAD FC $1 Million Lightweight Tournament, the leaders emerged from the pack with distinction.

Former M-1 and BAMMA Champ Mansour Barnaoui narrowly missed Mongolian National Boxing Champ Nandin-Erdene’s power punches and went into the clinch where he showed off some devastating dirty boxing of his own.

Barnaoui then changed levels and took Nandin down into deep waters, locking on a choke from behind that caused the Mongolian to quickly tap.

Brazil’s number one-ranked Ronys Torres wasted no time taking phenom striker Tom Santos into his forte of the grappling realm. From inside a tight half guard, Torres worked on isolating each arm which forced Santos to defend from all angles.

When Santos found room to move, it was Torres’ opportunity to reposition for an armbar, which he locked on and ended the fight in the first round.

Bao wasn’t able to work his fantastic sanda kicks against the Japanese veteran, who played the perfect game against a dangerous striker. Shimoishi bullied Bao on the canvas and taunted him into a top position, where the grappler was able to flip a leg over and go for the armbar. Bao had no defense and quickly tapped out of the tournament.